How would your life be different if you were enlightened? Would you have everything you always wanted? Would you understand the mysteries of the universe and unravel the secrets of life? What is keeping you from this most profound realization?
Maybe, out of modesty, we think of enlightenment as fundamentally out of reach. Out of deference to spiritual leaders, we place their achievements and understanding on a pedestal we dare not approach, forgetting that they set an example so that others might follow.

One spiritual leader, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, was not a god or a prophet, but rather a normal human, just like us, who, by his own efforts, became enlightened.

At 29, Siddhartha made the decision to leave a pampered life to wander and become a truth-seeker. All the religious authorities told him he’d have to wait many lifetimes to be happy, and that liberation from suffering was a state reserved for the gods. After years of learning all he could from the spiritual masters of the time, he was convinced it was impossible to attain enlightenment by even the most radical physical measures, so he set out to find it in deep contemplation. There, he finally found all of the answers he had been seeking and felt a deep understanding he could not express in words; he just giggled.

After all of his efforts, he could see that the journey from the world of suffering to the world of enlightenment was just a shift in his understanding. Outwardly, he was the same person, but he saw the world in a different light.

In his meditation, he identified qualities that comprised his perfect state called the Six Perfections. In Tibetan, the word perfection literally translates as “crossing over to the other side,” or “gone beyond.” When the Buddha fully perceived the way these qualities permeated his very existence, he mentally had “gone beyond” the limitations of the physical world into enlightenment.
But the Perfections were not traits Buddha adopted or worked to develop; they existed within him all along. Their true essence—impermanence, freedom, causality, perseverance, being, and unity—are innate characteristics that we all possess. You can cross into the world of enlightened realization by recognizing how these same qualities already exist within you.

To realize enlightenment, you don’t have to follow rules, change your behavior, or adopt a new belief system. It is there for you to see with your own eyes and interpret with your own mind. Living an enlightened life is up to you.